Duane Rankin: SEC winning streak at an end

Jan. 7, 2014

Written by

Duane Rankin

Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser

PASADENA, CALIF. — The streak is over for the Southeastern Conference.

Is everybody happy now?

The conference everyone outside of the south loves to hate finally had a team fold in BCS title game, but it took a very talented team in the midst of schools from the league to put an end to the run.

“I think so,” former Florida State tailback Greg Jones said on the field after the game, “I think so. You look at other teams. You see what they do in the bowl games. I think we’re the only ones who could.”

The Seminoles know SEC football. Their players were recruited by SEC teams. Their players played with guys who go to Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Florida and other SEC schools.

Even their head coach Jimbo Fisher coached in the SEC.

Tallahassee might as well be called L.A. — Lower Alabama — because of its location. So the Seminoles were familiar with what they were facing Monday night.

Beyond that, the Seminoles had the confidence it could beat an SEC team and were using that as fuel in preparing for the Tigers.

“We don’t feed into that,” said Florida State tailback Karlos Williams at Florida State’s BCS media day on Saturday about the SEC streak. “We don’t buy into it. We let them have that to get themselves pumped up. We don’t need that about the ACC. We just go out there and handle our business.”

The Seminoles were so confident leading into the game, it was borderline arrogance. They would call it reestablishing that swagger established under Bobby Bowden, but they weren’t talking too much when down 21-3 to Auburn in the first half.

Then when Tre Mason gutted their defense on his 37-yard touchdown run to put Auburn up 31-27 with a minute, 19 seconds left in the game, the streak looked pretty sure.

So the Seminoles should be thankful it had a kid from Alabama — redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston — to knock off an SEC team on his birthday nonetheless.

Winston led FSU on the game-winning drive and completed it with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left.

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Now I know I picked the Seminoles to knock off Auburn. Not going to gloat about it because at the end of the day, I’m wrong more times than not.

Let me give you a recent example.

The week of the SEC Championship Game, I wrote a column warning Florida State and Ohio State to take care of business in their respective conference championship games or the SEC was going to win an eighth straight national championship.

If one of them loses Saturday and Auburn beats Missouri to get in the national title game, make room for another crystal ball in SEC trophy case. Ohio State gave up 41 points to unranked Michigan. Auburn will score that much with time to spare.

Florida State has more talent than Auburn, but Gus Malzahn would outcoach Jimbo Fisher. Missouri would have a tougher time beating the Buckeyes or Seminoles, but it is more battle tested than either of them.

See what I’m talking about?

The SEC went 7-3 in bowl games this season, but lost two of the biggest ones. Alabama fell to Oklahoma, 45-31, in the Sugar Bowl and Auburn wasn’t able to finish against Florida State.

The SEC took one on the chin Monday night, but with the four-team playoff coming next year, one conference team, if not two, will make its way into the postseason.